Page 60 - Studio International - April 1967

Maquette for Cube relief 1967

Left White and Aluminium II 1967
P.V.A. and aluminium on wood
72 x 72 in.

and so on, in the structures. Mathematics play formal idiom still further also may seem a neces- choices are neither mechanical nor arbitrary. They
their part when called in but the impetus is visual, sary next step in the same way. All we can be sure are logical, not in the Euclidean sense but as human
not conceptual. And the life of these works is of, though, is that these acts, chosen out of all those and particular requirements under specific con-
visual; to put it bluntly, what they offer needs before the artist at the time, are closely related to ditions, same of which are temporary and some of
seeing. In so far as there is a nameable theme that each other. His compilation now has to be its own which are long-term, and many of which are only
runs through Hughes's work it is that of visual architecture. So he builds it out of his custom-made partly related to conscious questions of art. The
ambiguity. In his paintings this was expressed bricks of canvas or aluminium-covered boxes. objects that result from these choices address them-
principally in the positive-negative interchange of Whether they stand by themselves or hang on the selves to us under specific circumstances that relate
the areas, though there were complications also in wall they are effectively structures. Yet the aim is to ourselves but are largely common to us all. I
the shifting action of the picture edges themselves. still visual. It is the stability/instability suggested share Hughes's belief that communication on many
The painting reliefs function quite differently. by the shapes, their individual surface qualities levels takes place much more readily than many
Tensions that had been almost exclusively in the and their arrangement, that is Hughes's medium, imagine. This communication can be supported, I
actual and virtual two-dimensional field of the not the architecture. Complex cross-references of believe, more effectively by encouraging in the
picture plane are here transferred to a spatial tone and material add surreptitiously to the read- spectator a greater degree of visual attention
relationship. Lateral interaction is made to pro- ings available. Line, having been a controlling towards the art object than by inserting pre-
duce conflicting readings of location in depth. The factor in the earlier work, now is a by-product of fabricated interpretations between him and it. q
aluminium surfaces change their spatial roles with his method, appearing as the interstices between
changing conditions of light (note the paradox: his blocks. Characteristically Hughes turns this
the 'hard' ingredient is the least stable), and thus negative line into a positive constituent by con-
are fluctuating elements within compositions that trolling its dimensions and visual presence.
otherwise already invite contradictory inferences. In writing about Hughes's work in this way,
Significantly, Hughes at this stage found it neces- briefly and superficially analysing the visual
Born in 1920, Malcolm Hughes trained at the Regional
sary to separate his compositions in many cases mechanics of the objects he puts before us, I do not
College of Art, Manchester, and the Royal College of Art,
from the picture edge by floating them within a mean to question the validity of other kinds of
London. In 1966 he won an Arts Council award.
box frame : lateral tensions remain but are less response. I do not even believe, as many people
He is visiting lecturer at Bath Academy of Art, Corsham, and
measurable and not tied to one plane. seem to do, that what one loosely calls an emotional
also teaches at the Regent Street Polytechnic School of Archi-
To do without this edge altogether, and even to response is an entirely individual matter. But what- tecture and the Chelsea School of Art, London.
move away from the supporting plane of the wall, ever these responses may be, the elements I have Recent exhibitions include Axiom, 1966, and Richard
seems inevitable—in retrospect. To concentrate his been describing are what occasions them. Hughes's Demarco, Edinburgh, 1966-67.